Joel Freeland could be a Portland Trailblazer next year after all. "If Blazers acting General Manager Chad Buchanan is still around by summer—a very big if—the smart move is also the obvious one: You ask Freeland, very politely, to accept a large sum of money to be your sixth man. And if you or Buchanan still need proof that Freeland’s the real deal then—well, the Olympics start July 27. Playing for Great Britain in his own backyard, we might get a glimpse of the most motivated Freeland yet." Better still, send Buchanan packing and hire a real GM. Tell that GM his number 1 priority is to convince Joel Freeland to sign with the Blazers this summer. BNM
I like that he's been very, very productive in Spain and you can never have too many big people (especially on this team) ... I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, but maybe the Blazers catch a break this time? We'll see.
YAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWNNNNNN. I wish I had a quarter for all the times I read where he's going to be the real deal for us. He's a decent euro player whose game may or may not be good enough for the NBA. But nobody in their right mind (or wrong mind, for that matter) is going to guarantee him so much as a single minute of playing time. That he has to earn and he certainly hasn't begun to do that yet. OK, all that said, he is an intriguing player. A soft PF type who may be a reserve here behind LA. Or maybe if he really does have NBA skills can start at PF if LA moves to center. But that seems very unlikely. But we do need to see if he wants to give it a go and determine if he's an NBA talent or not.
*yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn* maybe watch him play a few times before you hack out a scouting report
Oh pfffffffffffffffffffffft on you, Nicky. All I'm saying is that it's not prudent to build a lot of expectations for a soft euro player before he even gets here- IF he ever gets here. One would think we've had enough of building high hopes with Bayless, Rudy, Babbitt, Oden.....
Freeland has got to look at our projected dearth of good big men and be licking his chops for a chance to play next year. His chances of getting solid backup minutes in the NBA are never going to be better. I hope we have a chance to give him a shot and finally see if he can keep up. As a backup PF, I'm actually pretty optimistic -- when's the last time we had a good backup PF on this team? He's got to be better than Frye, right?
All I'm saying is that if you watched him play at all, you probably wouldn't use the word "soft." I'm not saying he's a "kill you and eat your spleen" kind of guy, but he's active on the boards, he's got a little bit of inside-out game and he's at least a gamer on the defensive end. My hopes are that he's able to play 15-20 minutes as a backup forward-center behind LaMarcus and (presumably?) Camby. I don't think anybody is expecting him to come in and be an instant difference maker or a day-one starter, but he's probably a better bet than wishfully hoping Oden is ever going to produce (or even stay for that matter).
"Portland signs Joel Freeland to 3-year contract" "Joel Freeland to undergo microfracture surgery, out of the year"
What makes you describe him as "soft"? Because he's a white euro? First, I don't buy the soft label. From the film I've seen, he doesn't seem averse to posting up, he rebounds and blocks shots/plays defense. He may, or may not, have NBA talent, but the "soft" label seems like an overused stereotype. BNM
if he came over he would immediately be our second best big (not that that is saying toooo much but yeah) big men translate fairly well from europe, and he is universally regarded a top 3 if not THE BEST big man in the acb so two things: IF HE COMES OVER he will be a nice addition and the "IF" part is the great variable, not if he will be able to contribute, i mean who is he going to have to beat out, cj?
I still think we offer him 3 years 11 mill he will jump to come over. You can't make that kind of money in the euro league at the moment.
The article's author exhilarates that Buchanan should guarantee Freeland that he'll be 6th man. The probability that he's that good as a rookie is very low, and especially if McMillan's still here, I agree with The Prophet.
The euro game is a soft game. It's based on more spacing, jump shots and flops. Bangers are usually slow dudes who just hand around the basket. As to Freeland, it's true that until he comes over here and shows what he can do it's "unfair" of me to call him soft. Boo hoo on me. But because he's the byproduct of a soft system playing a soft brand of basketball I'm branding him soft until he proves otherwise. If he does prove otherwise, I'll be the first to jump up and down and spin around.
Pretty much the definition of "stereotype". Why brand him anything until you actually see him play? BNM
